FG Uncovers Over 22,000 Nigerians Parading Fake Certificates
Over twenty thousand Nigerians are parading fake certificates from unaccredited universities in Togo and Benin Republic, obtained between 2019 and 2023.
The Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman made this known during a press conference in Abuja to mark his one year in office.
The Federal government had set up a committee to probe activities of certificate racketeers following an investigative report by an online medium indicating that many Nigerian students acquired fake degrees from Universities in the Benin Republic.
The Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman explained that findings from the National Youth Service Corps revealed that 1,105 students are holding fake certificates from Togo while 21,684 are from the Benin Republic ,obtained between 2019 and 2023.
Professor Mamman said the federal government would soon issue a circular to both public and private employers to flush out anybody with fake certificates from their establishments.
“What the federal government approved is that the Secretary to the government would issue a circular to all employers, whether it is public or private, to fish out anybody with certificates from these institutions.” he stated.
“In Togo, there are three universities that are officially approved and licenced to offer degree courses and in Benin Republic, we have five institutions licenced for degree courses,” he said.
On the twenty-one day notice of strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU, the Minister explained that efforts are ongoing to resolve their concerns, however, there would be a meeting with the leadership of the Union on Monday to address the lingering issues.
“Most of the issues raised by ASUU are being attended to. For instance, the issue of exit from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) has since been resolved by the President. Bureaucracy is the reason for delay in the implementation of that directive. But by the time we meet on Monday, some of these issues would be discussed and resolved.”
He stated that the Federal government was working on connecting universities to the CNG as a long term solution to the challenge of electricity while in the short term, the ministry was collaborating with the ministry of power to secure a discounted rate.
Professor Mamman announced that in its efforts to ensure access to quality education for all Nigerians, the ministry had secured scholarship for seven hundred and fifty-nine thousand scholarships in the last one year,both within and outside the country.
On reducing the number of out of school children in the country, the Minister said about four million have been enrolled into school and the federal government targets that same number annually for the next three years.
“We have been able to bring back to school about four million young childre. Our plan and projection is that with this number achieved in the last one year, we should be able to have about four million annually for the next four years.”
He also said the government had upgraded infrastructure at all levels of education.
Professor Mamman explained that measures are being taken to safeguard schools to make it conducive for learning.
He said by the next academic session, schools are mandated to implement the new curriculum which incorporates skills development.
Professor Mamman mentioned that the teachers were not left out as eight-five thousand of them have so far been trained.
The Minister of State, Dr. Yusuf Sununu stated that the various policies and programmes embarked on since assumption into office were geared towards transforming the education sector in line with global best practices.
Radio Nigeria
